Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-12-03
THEIWEAK POINTS In LYNCHInG.

'AAeS ~ OOASASA tASo wac AhpA WILD
nto the City to avengc the death of
Bigus. The sheriff called ON the To-
,al military company, deputized
several hundred citizens as guards
At the Jail, and kept a shaI p lookout,
but no colored mob came. Now. if
5he officers could so quickly be ready
in an emergency from colored mob,
why could they not preserve the dig
nifty Of the law from the outrages of
q white mob. Talking about lynch
law may not be popular in this neck
o. woods, but justice demands that
the weak points in this lynching bus
mess be pointed our, in the calm of
excitement and passion. The ripest
fruit Of mob law is now ready to be
plucked in Roane Co., where Win
chesters and revolvers have to be
carried openly for personal safety.
and where the lynchers were not
only the murderers of their own vic
tim, but also of several innocent
witnesses against them.
In the Frederick lynching, there
is no proof that the alleged colored
man was not a white man in disguise.
The assault took place near a gas
light, within sight Of several persons,
and was evidently for the purpose
Of robbery of the lady's watch or
money, and not attempted rape, but
the mob gave themselves the benefit
of that doubt. The proof was the
Identification by the lady as
how? He was taken be-
fore her in the dusk of evening, aud
in her excited state of mind. AS
soon as he catered she exclaimed,
" That's the villain,-take him
away" Probably she would have
said the very same words to any one
of hundred colored men brought
before her under the same circum.
stances. Had she been left to pick
him out from among several others,
or better yet given her testimony in
legal form in due process of law.
weak point in all these
lynchings is, that the plans originate
in the saloons, and Capt. Whisky
intensifies the excitement and urges
on spirit of vengeance that is in bad
taste with the mob's pretended love
of Justice. The confession farce is
another weak point,-stranggled con
tesSion that confuseS even the mob's
fierce temper. What can be CLEAN
ed from the whisperings of the gen.
eral run of lynchings, goes to show
that the lynched were far more COM
posed and less unnerved than the
Iynchers. The weakest point is the
part played by JUsTICE,-5y the of,
ticers and juries,-many of whom
knew as much about the lynchings
as the next of kin to them,-perhaps
met them, and parleyed with the
awlessness they we're sworn to sup.
press. Fate frequently overtakes
It's own.
The story that Bigus confessed
with the rope about his neck
to nothing, even if true, and
was probably manufactured to shield
a lot of men who knew that they
we're doing wrong. A man under
the shadow Of the gallows will con
fess anything, no matter how false,
with the desperate hope of gaining
a respite. If Bigus was the assail
ant of Mrs. Yeakle, he may have
her for another upon whom
he wished to wreak vengeance, and
may not have had the vile intention
with which local opinion credited
him. The crime actually committed
was notsuch as either the law or pub
lie sentiment expiates By death. The
both because OF its savage
ness and the responsibility OF the
victim, justified the utmost indigna-
ton but this furnishes no reason for
the sensless fury into which many
citizens worked them
selves.
The courts were open, the Jail Sc.
cure, and candid people will hardly
venture to say that there is any I'M
due prejudice in this state in favor of
the colored people which would de-
feat the ends of justice. Had Bigus
been tried and the charge against
him clearly proven, while he escap.
ed punishment on the technicality,
there might have been some pallia
tion for this relapse into barbarism !;
hut as tae case now stands, there
will be many to fear that an innocent
man has been brutally lynched. That
the colored people propose to make
matters worse by themselves defy.
ing the law, we do not believe.
While they have just grounds for
indignation, here in Maryland they
have generally shown a proper re-
gard for authority, even when great
ly provoked.
The suspicious which have made
Frederick an armed camp are due
partly to the local sentiment that,
uuder excitement, a grave wrong
has been perpetraled, and the injur-
ed race will attempt to resent it, and
partly to the bravado and threats of
idle colored men who do not repre-
Sant tho Opipion of tho uraat iar